Nothing stays hidden on The Vampire Diaries. Feelings, people and occasionally an all-powerful stake cannot avoid being discovered. And that's good. Life would be far too easy if everything was obvious. Keep reading to find out exactly what "Heart of Darkness" revealed.

Why Every Home Needs a DungeonElena makes her way through the Salvatores' dungeon-like basement to find Alaric sitting alone in a cell. He tells her to get away, but Elena points out that even psychos need toothpaste and classic literature.

With little regard for her life, Elena stays to hang out and get advice from her occasional guardian. What possible angst could bring this on? Apparently, Elena and Damon are going on a Stefan-approved trip to Denver to find Jeremy, contact Rose and figure out their feelings.

Not getting the disapproval she so desperately wants, Elena heads up to the Salvatore's living room where she knows that a brooding Stefan will help out...

Nope. He still wants her to go. He has to torture the stake location out of Evil Alaric anyway. At least Stefan does have the decency to look all emo as Elena walks out with Damon.

Why We Can't Hate RebekahOver at the high school, there is much less emo and much more party planning. It's time for the Decade Dance! And this year, they're going with a '70s theme!

Except... They're not. Rebekah has managed to commandeer the whole planning committee away from Caroline and has chosen a new decade -- the '20s. Caroline chooses not to see the fashion advantages of this decade, only caring that Rebekah has taken over yet again. Matt, as usual, is no help, agreeing that he didn't want to wear bellbottom-type clothing.

Caroline storms out, followed by a conciliatory Matt. As it turns out, the whole thing was an act, meant to distract Rebekah long enough for Caroline to slip away and find Tyler.

Matt continues the charade by driving Rebekah home. Rebekah being Rebekah, she is suspicious of Matt's motives and is only reassured by extreme gentlemanlike behavior from the boy. Remarking sadly that she will have to compel a date to the dance she planned, Rebekah pretty much manages to break our hearts.

Not Matt's heart though. He totally fails to pick up on Rebekah's "Ask me out, please!!!" vibe. Boys are dumb.

Alas for Rebekah, her heartache is not yet over -- Mommy Esther is waiting inside the house.Rebekah initially wants to kill Esther, which is fair, but is talked out of it when she learns that the broken Bennett line is killing Esther. Mother and daughter share a tender moment before Esther crumples to the floor.

By the time Klaus wanders in, Esther is dead.

Seriously? That's it? After all this time, Esther just dies? Too easy, Vampire Diaries. Too easy.

Why Jeremy Dates Dead ChicksDamon and Elena arrive in Denver to find Jeremy at batting practice. The Littlest Gilbert is kind of surprised by the visit. He's more surprised to find out that they want him to contact Rose, a dead vampire (redundant!) he never met. Jeremy is even more surprised when his good new friend turns out to be the Original Kol.

Poor Jeremy. No one ever just wants to hang.

Instead, "friends" tend to use Jeremy to cause trouble. In this manner, Kol has some fun beating Damon with bats. But Damon is tricky and stakes Kol so they'll have time to run away.

The trio heads to a crappy motel nearby and prepare to contact Rose. She actually shows up very quickly, despite Damon's reluctance to provide a picture or to describe her beautiful, final dream. I'm guessing that Rose has been using the afterlife to spy on the sexiness that is Damon. Totally fair.

Jeremy finds Rose sort of confusing -- after marveling at Damon's hotness, Rose declares herself to be a Delena shipper -- but he quickly learns that Rose was turned by one Mary Porter (aka, Scary Mary). Mary's whereabouts are unknown, but Rose is willing to look.

Thus, Damon and Elena find themselves waiting at a motel...

Why the Good Is DumbBack in the Salvatore dungeon, Alaric is trying to sleep -- as unconsciousness tends to bring Evil Alaric out to play -- and failing miserably. Stefan arrives with the suggestion of booze, and both men get to drinking.

They do know that torture is a likely outcome of this situation, but neither Alaric nor Stefan is terribly excited by the prospect. So they talk about Elena. Stefan only let her go because all of his self-improvement wasn't going to mean anything if Elena liked Damon at all. Self-pitying Stefan is a boring Stefan.

Unfortunately, self-loathing Alaric isn't much better. The history teacher-turned-serial killer has realized that the psycho alter ego is just expressing all of the things Alaric hates about himself. Those things basically boil down to being Damon's drinking buddy. Stefan doesn't argue the basic point but instead posits that Evil Alaric is only the manifestation of Good Alaric's darkest places.

This psychoanalysis is blissfully interrupted by the arrival of Klaus to collect his stakes. When Klaus learns that Evil Alaric knows the location of that last stake, the Original helps out -- by snapping Alaric's neck.

It initially seems that Damon's bravado is all talk, as Elena goes to sleep alone while Damon drinks and keeps watch for Kol.

But Elena is not asleep. She's staring at Damon. After roughly an eternity, Damon gets around to staring back. Elena immediately plays the "I'm asleep!" game, but she can't stick with it and goes back to staring.

Damon lies down on the bed beside her. At first it seems as though this is just going to be another discussion of how Damon always has to be the bad guy (so he won't disappoint high expectations). Then hands touch and...

Elena leaves. Boo!

But she doesn't go far. Pausing by the ice machine, Damon has time to catch up. There is a brief pause in which Elena prepares to disappoint us all yet again...

And then she doesn't. Elena attacks Damon and the two end up in an extended series of kisses that back up against walls and endure through a full commercial break.

Yay!

Then Jeremy shows up. Sigh... At least the Annoying One has news that Rose found Scary Mary in Kansas.

Why Torture Is Always the AnswerBack in the most boring dungeon ever, Alaric revives and is still not evil. Both Stefan and Alaric are tired of this and decide to force Evil Alaric out by trying to kill him. The ring comes off, and Stefan gets to punching.

It doesn't do much. Eventually, however, Alaric starts bleeding. And we all know how Stefan feels about bleeding. The vampire initially tries to back off, but Alaric insists. Stefan attacks, fully unleashing his dark side on Alaric.

That works. Dark sides always respond to other dark sides, after all.

Evil Alaric suddenly emerges, apparently for the purpose of taunting Stefan. This doesn't seem much like self-preservation, but whatever. Stefan does manage to control himself and puts Evil Alaric in a headlock before demanding the stake's location.

Evil Alaric gives up the location quickly. The stake is hidden in that Cave That Hates Vampires, which is actually a very good hiding place. Stefan leaves Alaric in the dungeon and heads upstairs, presumably to call a human who can find the stake.

But he doesn't have to. Klaus and Rebekah are waiting to help. While Klaus lets Stefan know who is in charge, Rebekah hauls the very bloody Evil Klaus upstairs and off to the caves. Stefan offers Klaus the chance to kill him, but of course Klaus says no. The Hybrid is still hoping that Stefan's Ripper side will return so that Klaus will have a friend again.

Stefan assures Klaus this isn't going to happen. But when has Klaus ever listened to anyone? That would be far too easy...

Why You Should Never Visit Old GirlfriendsDamon, Elena and Jeremy find Scary Mary's house. Jeremy, who is being a brat about Elena and Damon, gets left outside while the other two enter Mary's spooky mansion. We soon learn that a) Mary is a hoarder, and b) Damon totally tapped that.

Alas, Mary proves to be a disappointing source of information. That's because she's dead. Kol staked her, knowing that the Salvatores can never learn their bloodlines. The Original then resumes his baseball-bat beating of Damon and even knocks Elena around a little.

So much for that plan. It was too easy to work.

Kol evidently gets bored with his beatdowns and leaves Damon and Elena to slowly recover. But it's not just physical wounds now. Damon demands to know Elena's feelings, which she claims not to know. Still. Despite the kissing. For once, however, Damon controls his irritation and refuses to let her off easy. This time, she has to figure it out.

That might take awhile. As they drive away with Jeremy in the back seat, no one is talking.

No one, that is, but Rose. She tells Jeremy to keep quiet, because this is all secret relationship stuff. In Rose's opinion, Elena should choose Damon because he's the challenge -- they each make each other a better person. Stefan is cool and loving and all, but he is too easy. Rose is not a fan of easy.

Why Reunions Are Fun on The Vampire DiariesRemember Caroline and Tyler?

The current Romeo and Juliet of The Vampire Diaries meet in the woods, just outside one of those ever-present Mystic Falls crypts. After a few moments of romance-movie looks of love, Caroline and Tyler head on down to the crypt for the sex. Lots and lots of sex.

When they're finished (and, amusingly, back outside in the dark), it's time for The Talk. In this case, the talk is a conversation about how Tyler might still have that sire-bond issue with Klaus. Even 100 turnings up in the Appalachians can't guarantee release these days!

But there's more bad news. Caroline fills in Tyler about the Original blood-line problem. Even Tyler can figure out that he's screwed if Klaus' blood doesn't lead directly to the Salvatores. He's not so happy about this.

The unhappiness continues at the Forbes house, where the Sheriff has graciously allowed Tyler couch space. Tyler is willing to go with this arrangement until he spies Klaus' horse drawing on Caroline's bedside table.

This brings the jerk out in Tyler. Despite Caroline's protests, Tyler refuses to hear words like "charming" applied to Klaus and stalks out. Nothing is ever easy on The Vampire Diaries...

Why It Couldn't Be That EasyDown in the caves, Evil Alaric and Rebekah arrive in the no-vampires room, where the Evil One quickly finds the missing stake. Not much of a hiding spot there, Alaric... It does not, however, matter at the moment, because Evil Alaric isn't coming out without some sort of deal.

Rebekah listens to Alaric's proposals but rejects them. After all, one stake means the death of only one Original. Rebekah wants to kill them all. And then she walks right into the non-vampire room.

Wait, what?

Remember how it seemed so easy the way Mommy Esther died? Turns out, she didn't die. She's Rebekah. And she wants every last one of the Originals to die.

Things are going to get interesting. And nothing is going to be easy.

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Did you like "Heart of Darkness"? How about that kiss? Did you see the twist coming? Leave your comments below!